Ozarks Community Hospital to lay off 60

Ozarks Community Hospital has begun laying off as much as 12 percent of its Springfield workforce.

Starting June 25, the health system started providing notice to as many as 60 of its 500 Springfield-area employees. OCH employs roughly 800 across hospitals and clinics in southwest Missouri and northwest Arkansas. The layoffs are disclosed in a letter from OCH CEO Paul Taylor to Randy Cottrell, manager of Dislocated Worker Programs at the Missouri Division of Workforce Development, provided to media by Gov. Jay Nixon's office.

"The layoffs will occur solely in the Springfield hospitals and clinics," Taylor said in the letter, noting the health system recently hired 62 full-time equivalent workers to its hospital and clinic in northwest Arkansas. "The reason we are hiring in Arkansas and laying off in Missouri is that Arkansas chose to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act and Missouri did not.

"We certainly wish it were otherwise."

Nixon has been vocal in his support of Medicaid expansion, which again failed to gain traction during this year's session of the Missouri General Assembly.

The layoffs at OCH will occur during a 60-day period.

"All of the affected employees are eligible for transfer and rehire, but our open positions tend to be outside the Springfield area," Taylor said in the letter.

According to the letter, OCH started after reopening a closed hospital facility in Springfield with 35 employees in early 2000. The heath system now pays compensation and benefits of $40 million annually.